VILLANOVA, Pa.—Senior catcher Ryan Henry (Ramsey, N.J.) had two hits and senior starting pitcher Sara Kennedy (Newtown, Conn.) mostly cruised through the early innings but Villanova (8-14, 0-2 BIG EAST) came out on the short end of a 6-0 decision against Butler (14-7, 2-0 BIG EAST) in the second game of a doubleheader at the Villanova Softball Complex on Friday afternoon. Earlier in the day the visiting Bulldogs tallied a narrow 3-1 victory in the opening game. The two contests were the first home games of the year for the Wildcats, who also opened their conference schedule with the first two games in a three-game series versus Butler.
 
A single run on two hits in the top of the first inning spotted the Bulldogs an early 1-0 lead and that remained the score through the end of the fourth inning despite both teams having scoring chances in the early innings. Junior designated player Ally Jones (Brielle, N.J.) singled with two outs in the bottom of the first inning and Henry lined a single to right-center in the second but each time Villanova was prevented from rallying further by Butler starting pitcher Alyssa Graves (4-3), who pitched a four-hitter and struck out six.
 
Kennedy (1-4) settled in after allowing an unearned run in the first inning, working around a two-out walk in the top of the second and then doing her best work of the day to strand the bases loaded in the third inning. That inning began with consecutive singles by Lauren Fey and Ellie Boyer at the top of the lineup. Kennedy struck out Ella White before a third hit in the inning off the bat of cleanup hitter Mackenzie Griman loaded the bases with still just one away. Kennedy escaped that jam unscathed after Monique Hoosen looped an infield fly to second and Maddie Moore struck out swinging after fouling off five straight pitches.
 
Butler had a runner at first with one out in the fourth inning when ninth place hitter Bri Avery laid down a sacrifice bunt to get a runner into scoring position with two outs for Fey, who had four hits and two runs scored in the twin-bill. Kennedy got the better of her in the fourth inning though, as Fey hit a 1-1 pitch for a soft flyout to center for the third out.
 
Another unearned run for the Bulldogs in the fifth inning made the score 2-0 before Butler later broke the game open with four runs in the top of the sixth. Kennedy was relieved by sophomore Caroline Pellicano (Norristown, Pa.) who made her first appearance since February 20 and logged 1 2/3 scoreless innings with three strikeouts.
 
This season marks the first time that the BIG EAST schedule features a three-game series played over three days rather than a doubleheader on a Saturday followed by a single game the next day. A forecast for inclement and wintry weather in the area on Saturday forced the change to a Friday doubleheader this week. The teams will try to play the final game of this weekend's series on Sunday at 1 p.m.